Crime-stopping Crooner

From Vigilante To Sentimentalist Isn`t A Far Reach For Daniels

November 22, 1990|By Jack Hurst, Country music writer.

The Nashville Network cable special ``Charlie Daniels: Christmas Time Down South`` shows the outspoken crime-basher of the big hit ``Simple Man`` in a much different light, singing a lot of Christmas carols he wrote himself and crooning Mel Torme`s ``The Christmas Song.``

Asked on the set if this show (to be aired Dec. 15 and 24) marks the first time in his career he ever crooned, Daniels grinned.

``I guess you could say that,`` he responded. ``I`ve never done ballads hardly at all.``

Two of the most moving of the songs he wrote for the special-all of which are on his new seasonal album, ``Christmas Time Down South``-are ``My Christmas Love Song for You,`` which he says he wrote for his wife of 27 years, Hazel, and ``Little Folks,`` a song about the children without whom Christmas would be a much less exciting time.

Videotaping the intro for ``Little Folks,`` Daniels suddenly stopped and, out of the blue, asked for somebody to ``bring me that baby.`` In a moment, with the tape rolling again, he was introducing 6-week-old (and exceptionally well-behaved) Sydney Scarlet Yochim to the camera as ``the newest addition to the Charlie Daniels Band family.``

Children played a considerable part in the special, as several of them gathered around Daniels for his rendition of another of his original carols,

``Jesus Is the Light of the World.``

``So many people get lost in the commerciality of Christmas and forget that it`s the birthday of Jesus Christ,`` Daniels said. ``We wanted to keep that in there.``

If such considerations sound a little foreign to the eye-for-an-eye advocate who backs lynching in ``Simple Man,`` they don`t to Daniels.

`` `Little Folks` is about what `Simple Man` is trying to protect,`` he says. ``To me, the most atrocious of crimes are committed against children and women.``

On the record: Dolly Parton`s ``Home for Christmas With Dolly Parton: The Radio Special,`` has eight shots at a potential audience of 500 million people. To be aired on 523 stations in the U.S. and around the world on the BBC, the Armed Forces Radio Network and the Voice of America, it`s slated to reach 129 countries and be translated into 43 languages. After the first round of airings Dec. 7 through 9, there will be another round on Dec. 21 through 25. . . . Speaking of different languages, the Texas Tornados-Doug Sahm, Freddy Fender, Flaco Jimenez and Augie Meyers-are translating their new Warner Bros. album into Spanish for release in Central and South America in early 1991. . . . Song title of the week: ``Dam These Tears`` by M. Geiger and W. Mullis.

The current Reba McEntire album, ``Rumor Has It,`` is the fastest-selling album of McEntire`s considerable career. Recently certified by the Record Industry Association of America after just two months on the charts, it is McEntire`s eighth gold album.

McEntire closes her performing year Dec. 19 in a ``Christmas From the White House`` special on NBC-TV.

On the road: George Strait and Patty Loveless recently sold out Oklahoma. Well, almost. They sold out back-to-back dates in Tulsa and Oklahoma City, grossing a total of more than $350,000 and drawing nearly 20,000 fans. . . . T. Graham Brown will be appearing with the Oak Ridge Boys at Star Plaza Theatre in Merrillville, Ind., Dec. 29 through 31.... Charley Pride recently finished his 11th tour of England, Scotland and Ireland, performing 40 sold-out shows in 39 days.

The Kentucky HeadHunters recently interrupted preproduction work on their second Mercury album to go to Los Angeles and tape an appearance on ABC-TV`s

``Dick Clark`s Rockin` New Year`s Eve.``

Also in Los Angeles, they picked up a couple of Billboard magazine video awards, for best duo or group and best new act for their ``Oh, Lonesome Me``

video.

Meanwhile, their first long-form retail video, ``Pickin` on Nashville-The Video,`` hit the marketplace. It includes the videos of ``Walk Softly on This Heart of Mine,`` ``Dumas Walker`` and ``Oh, Lonesome Me`` as well as new footage shot at the ``practice house`` in Edmonton, Ky.